Saturday, 15 October 2016

THIYAGANUR BUDDHA TEMPLE – ATTUR FORT – A HERITAGE WALK.

09th October 2016.

After the visit to Attur Fort, the a good lunch was hosted by
Mr Venkatesan and Dr Ponnambalam. As promised Mr Venkatesh and Mr Kalaiselvan
took us to the Thiyaganur Buddha temples and Shiva & Vishnu temples at
Aragalur. The second half of the day was an enjoyable one and had the opportunity
of a big Buddha statue..

BUDDHA TEMPLE -1.

The temple is at Viraganur, north of Thiyaganur. The Buddha
statue is made of monolithic stone approximately 7 feet tall in a meditating posture. This is also
one of the tallest Buddha statue in Tamil Nadu. As per the experts Buddha
statue belongs to 5th century CE and some experts claims that it belongs to 11th
century CE. The Buddha temple was constructed
during recent years by some Vishnu worshipers, since the sanctum vimana has the
stucco images of Hindu Vishnu gods Krishnar and
Narasimhar. The regular poojas are followed in Hindu rituals / style/tradition.. The Buddha, as the Buddhist texts describe, is strikingly
handsome, serene and radiant as “a palm-tree fruit just loosened from the
stalk”. His calm appearance, topped with coal-black hair, is profoundly
impressive.

This Dhyana mandapam is very near to the temple -1. Previously this
was in open fields. The District collector Mr Makarabhusanam, who happened to see the prices less Buddha Statue
of 6 feet high in the open field for many centuries constructed a Dhyana
mandapam with the help of Volunteers and Villagers. The Dhyana mandapam was constructed in Buddhist style of Stupa. The Statue was installed on a pedastal in the new Stupa on 28-06-2013. It was claimed that the Buddha statue belongs
to 5th century CE.